Nottinghamshire Strike
Nottinghamshire’s professionals, led by Alfred Shaw, led a strike over playing contracts agreed by the MCC and secretary Captain Henry Holden. The players demanded security of contract for all games during the season and the right to organise their own terms rather than those set by the MCC, which during the 1870s as county cricket grew established a strong grip on terms for professional players.
The dispute meant that seven of Nottinghamshire’s top players did not play for at least the first half of the season, and star batsman Arthur Shrewsbury played only three first-class games all year. Shaw and Shrewsbury used the dispute to organise an eight-month tour of Australia and New Zealand during the winter.
Read more about this topic: 1881 English Cricket Season
Famous quotes containing the word strike:
“Talk to me not of blasphemy, man; I’d strike the sun if it insulted me.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)